Back Before Summer Starts
by Milky Boy Blue
Summary: It's a week before the Mystery Twins return to Gravity Falls, while their Great uncles have already arrived and are settling in. Meanwhile, Wendy Corduroy hears some strangely familiar voices on her way to see her former boss and his brother...
1. Chapter 1

Stanley Pines stepped into the Mystery Shack after almost a year away, dumping his luggage on the floor and with a grin said, "Ahh...it's good to be back! Smells like home!" He frowned. "And Soos."

"Aw, thanks Mister Pines!" said the large handyman-turned-Mister Mystery. "I'm glad you noticed!"

"It is good to be back," agreed Stanford Pines, setting his own luggage down much more carefully than his twin and stepping deeper into the building to make more room. "And I must say how impressed I am with what you've done here, Soos," he said, looking at the newer props with interest. "The exhibits appear to be far better maintained than when Stanley was in charge."

"Hey, maintaining stuff cost money!" snapped Stanley. "Besides, a bit of glue here, twenty rolls of duct tape here - who needs any more than that?"

"Stanley, you had so much duct tape on that moleman prop people thought it was a mummy." Ford rolled his eyes. "What was that anyway? It was far too large to be a real moleman."

"Stuffed bear I shaved and dressed in miner clothes," Stan declared proudly. "Those were real miner clothes too! Soos found them when Waddles was pignapped by that dino. Probably the first good idea he'd ever had. Or that I can remembering listening to, at least."

Soos gasped as his hands clasped in excitement. "Aw, Mister Pines, Dude!" he cried, running forward and enveloping the twins in a massive hug before either could escape. "That's, like, so great to hear, dude!" He choked back tears as the men struggled to escape his grip. "I've been practising my hugs on Melody and Abuelita every day this week."

"Is true," called a faint voice from somewhere in the building while a large woman with a bright, sincere smile nodded happily from behind the counter.

"He's been so excited," chuckled Melody, the cashier and Soos' girlfriend for almost a year. "He even practised on some of the customers, even when they begged him to stop."

"Melody!" cried Ford, finally noticing her and squeezing his way out from under one of Soos' arms and sacrificing Stan to the full affectionate force of the hug. "It is so good to see you," he said, stepping behind the counter to shake the hand she had politely offered him, answering his six-fingered clasp with another warm smile. "I know we haven't formally met but whenever Stan would ask Soos about the Shack he had to listen to at least twenty minutes of smitten ramblings. He is utterly devoted to you," he said gently.

"Oh, Doctor Pines," said Melody waving a dismissive hand in front of her as she giggled. "I'm sure you're exaggerating."

"He's not," confirmed Stan, finally breaking free now that Soos was too busy using both hands to wipe the tears of joy from his face. "Poindexter timed him and everything. Probably got the minutes of each call written down somewhere."

"Oh man! I am, like, so happy dudes!" Soos grinned and spread his arms wide. "When the younger twins come back on Saturday it'll be a dream come true. Only real. It'll be a real come true!"

"Yeah," sighed Stan wistfully. "It'll be good to see those knuckleheads again, even if they will find trouble and danger the minute they're out of sight."

"Wait," said Ford, frowning. "I think we're missing someone." He looked around as if trying to find a reminder before his eyes landed on the till. "Where's Miss Corduroy?" he asked.

"Late," came the reply from the other four Shack inhabitants at once. Two said it with a shrug, Stan with a grunt and the voice from upstairs added something in Spanish too quiet for Ford to make out but he doubted it was a compliment.

Ford blinked. "Face it, Poindexter," said Stan wrapping his arm around his brother's shoulder. "Some things never change. Not even in Gravity Falls."

* * *

Wendy Corduroy rode her bike through the town, casually humming along to herself as she did so.

She was running late but didn't really care any more than usual. Of course, she could have easily left her house earlier or even just pedalled her bike faster, but why put in the effort? However, this time she decided to stop by Greasy's Diner to pick up some coffee for the group waiting for her at the Mystery Shack to celebrate the return of her second favourite pair of twins.

While there she had made sure to mention to Lazy Susan that the Stans were back, and had graciously accepted the free coffees and even promised that in return she would pass Susan's new number to Stan. She even asked which Stan, but the waitress had responded with a shrug and said, "I can't tell them apart so either one's good for me! I'm not picky!" She had even lifted her droopy eyelid to add a friendly wink.

Wendy was almost out of the door with a thanks and a wave when someone stepped in front of the exit and made her pause.

Pacifica Northwest shifted uncomfortably under Wendy's gaze. No matter how many times Wendy saw her, a part of her still found it weird to see the formerly super-rich and now merely wealthy girl working part-time at a place like this. Pacifica cleared her throat, brushed at her apron and tightened her grip on a brown paper bag she was holding before saying, "I heard the Pines brothers are back today."

"Yeah," said Wendy with a frown. She had never liked the Northwests or their superior attitude. When she had heard about their loss of wealth and how they had been forced to sell their family home to Old Man McGucket (who had renamed it McGucket's Hootenanny Hutt) she had actually laughed out loud. But the girl in front of her had changed a lot from the spoiled brat that had been a rival to Mabel and an annoyance to Dipper. The twins had proven that when they had actually been happy to see her at their thirteenth birthday.

Pacifica nodded. "Good," she said. "That's good that they're back."

"Yeah," said Wendy again after a moment. "In fact, I'm just about to go bring them their coffee so could you, you know…" She gestured toward the door the younger girl was blocking.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Pacifica said but didn't move out of the way. Just when Wendy was about lose her patience and push past her to finally get out of the building, Pacifica thrust the paper bag at her.

"Um," said a confused Wendy. "Thanks?" She took the bag warily. "What's this?"

"Cakes," said Pacifica with slight blush. "And stuff. For the Pines brothers. For all the help they did during Never Mind All That." Still blushing, she suddenly glared at Wendy as if daring her to say anything.

"Thanks," said Wendy, finding the glare easier to deal with than the nervousness for some reason. "I'll make sure they get them and let them know they're from you."

Pacifica nodded and turned a deeper shade of pink but finally moved out of the way so Wendy could pass.

Just as she had placed the coffees and bag of treats in her basket and swapped her prized trucker hat with her bike helmet a voice called out to her.

She turned and Pacifica, now an even deeper shade of pink and still with the glare said, "It's Saturday they're back isn't it? Mabel and - and Dipper"?

Wendy grinned. "Yep! I'm looking forward to seeing them too!" And then she sped off towards the Mystery Shack, actually looking forward to seeing the place for a change.

She smiled to herself as she thought about her favourite pair of twins and how great it would be to see them again, especially Dipper. Mabel would bring her boundless energy, confidence and sunny disposition, and Dipper would of course be a mixture of curiosity mixed with constantly nervous energy fuelled by his insistent need to prove himself, despite having already done so several times during that first summer. She wondered what kind of adventures they would bring.

Would Mabel still chase after a new boy every week and bring the whole team into her grand schemes to impress and spread cheer on a sudden whim?

What would Dipper search for and find this summer? What monsters and mysteries awaited? Even just spending time with them, whether it was whatever random thing Mabel would suddenly obsess over or spending a movie night with Dipper, made her desperate for their return next week.

She could almost hear them now. Mabel would come bounding out of the bus and declare something like: "Whoohoo Gravity Falls! Mabel is back and is ready to help you with your troubles!"

And then Dipper would say something like: "Mabel! Shh! We're can't let anyone know we're here!"

Wendy blinked. Dipper wouldn't say anything like that! And why did it sound so clear and yet somehow different?

"Oops! My bad! I'll try to keep it down. Mabel will be focused like a super glitter laser of sparkly kitten cuteness! Only quieter and slightly less adorably awesome!"

Wendy had stopped pedalling and now stood perfectly still, listening intently to the voices from the woods to her left. It was a quiet road that led to the Mystery Shack, just on the outskirts of the town but rarely travelled by anyone not in a car. There were walls of trees and bushes on both sides that blocked the view of anyone trying to look into the woods. And behind those bushes came the so very familiar voices.

"Come on Mabel, we're on a mission! Try not to get to distracted while I use the tracker make a search grid that will narrow the possible locations he's gone to."

That was definitely something Dipper would say.

"Okay, you do that will I take in the sights! Hello grass! Hello squirrel! Hello other squirrel!"

And that was _definitely_ Mabel. Standing her bike next to a tree to stop the drinks spilling, Wendy automatically traded the helmet for her pine tree trucker hat and made her way carefully towards the voices.

Creeping through the bushes and peering through the branches, her survivalist training making sure that she would not be noticed by most people or animals, she stopped in her stealthy tracks as she looked into the small clearing and saw the Pines twins.

There they were, Dipper and Mabel, Dipper frowning and shaking his head as he fiddled with a strange device while Mabel was vibrating with cheerful energy as she stopped to say hi to everything she saw. It was something Wendy would normally think of as perfectly normal for the twins.

Except it wasn't them.


	2. Chapter 2

The two people in the clearing had all the features of the twins; the brown hair and hazel eyes, Mabel's curls, Dipper's stress lines, and Wendy even knew that if she lifted the hair away from his forehead she would see the birthmark that was the source of his nickname.

But they were older. Not a year older than when she had last seen them, but more, if she had to guess she'd say that they were in their thirties.

 _Time travel._

Of course, it made a Gravity Falls kind of sense! Dipper and Mabel had mentioned before that they'd met a time traveller at the cheapskate fair Stan had hired, and then again at Soos's birthday. What few stories she had heard from the townsfolk about Weirdmageddon and their time being frozen (but still horrifically aware) as part of Bill's throne had mostly included strange and twisted party games, as well as whatever twisted jokes or stories Bill would amuse himself with. But her father and brothers at least had eventually mentioned the death of the Time Baby creature that Mabel and Dipper had seen in their time travels. Dipper had mentioned a few times how he wished he could create one of the time machines so common in the future.

And maybe he would. And then he and Mabel would go back to just before their second summer for another adventure.

 _Adventure_.

Wendy grinned. This was more like it! An end to the Never Mind All That garbage the whole town would chant whenever she tried to talk about those terrifying but thrilling days. A new adventure with friends who were happy to join her in dealing with the town's many problems instead of just ignoring them and settling for mere pranks and teenage rebellion. This is what she had been hoping for when the Mystery Twins returned and now it had come early.

She looked again at Dipper, still focused on his device and wearing cargo trousers, a pair of boots that even a Corduroy would be proud of and a dark jacket that, knowing Dipper, probably had several pockets to store whatever he needed.

 _Nah. Too easy._

She looked at Mabel distracted by the colony of critters that sat in a nearby tree, almost waiting for her as she called out greeted each of them. Her outfit was, of course, more colourful than Dipper's. Instead of a jacket she had a backpack that could have held any number of things that probably included knitting needles and glitter. She also wore a sweater, of course, a pale blue one with what appeared to be white hourglass on the back and front, one hourglass full at the bottom, the other at the top.

 _Trickier. Much more satisfying._

She waited until Dipper had turned around, facing away from them as he paced, almost as if he were searching for a decent signal. She crept silently towards his sister and in the excitement of the moment even held up a finger to her lips as she glanced at the animals in the tree, as if asking them to take part in the prank. She smiled wickedly as she reached Mabel (they were practically the same height now!) and leaned closer until her mouth was right behind Mabel's ear.

"Boo," she whispered, expecting the woman to jump and maybe even yelp.

Instead an elbow connected heavily with her stomach and just as Wendy grunted in shock and pain she heard a battle-cry.

"Gravity hook!" screamed Mabel as the elbow struck and in one fluid motion she pulled a device out of somewhere, spun around and fired it straight at Wendy.

Wendy felt a lift in her stomach as if being on a rollercoaster at the top of a descent and lurched as she felt her feet lift from the ground and slowly lifted into the air.

"Uh-oh," said Mabel as she recognised the figure that was now desperately reaching for a tree branch to stop her ascent.

"Mabel!" Dipper rushed over in alarm and looked between his sister and her floating victim. "What happ-is that Wendy!?"

"Get me down from here!" screamed Wendy, having successfully grabbed onto a branch and wrapping her legs around it to hold on for dear life.

Mabel winced. "Sorry Wen! I'll get you down in just a sec! You can let go, the gravity tether's still attached so you won't fall!"

"I want to fall!" snarled Wendy. Then she noticed that there was strong white cable of what looked almost like light flowing from where Mabel had shot her to the pistol-like device that Mabel was fiddling with.

"Let's see - Earth gravity, maybe thirty feet, retract the grapnel - HEY WENDY! How much do you weigh?"

"None of your business!" screamed Wendy as her long hair rose too and she shook her head and spat to stop it getting in her eyes and mouth.

"Yeesh," said Mabel, rolling her eyes. "Touchy. Girl looks great but gets offended at one little question." She grinned and nudged Dipper with an elbow. "Teenagers, amiright?"

"Mabel!" snapped Dipper and Wendy together.

"Alright, alright," she muttered. "Here we go." She finished adjusting the setting and pulled the trigger again. The strange energy cord leading to Wendy began to tighten and soon she felt it tugging at her shirt. Hesitating for a moment, she gingerly lowered herself from the branch until she could go no further. Preparing for a drop, she took a deep breath and let go, ready to roll with the landing. Instead she descended, her stomach still fluttering as she fell to earth as slowly as an air-filled balloon.

When her feet finally touched the ground, Mabel pressed another button and the fluttering in her stomach ended with another sudden lurch as gravity returned and the cord snaked its way back into Mabel's device.

Wendy was panting with anger and a lingering nausea in her gut. "What," she demanded, "was that?"

"Gravity hook," said Mabel with a shrug. "It's like a grappling hook except it can affect gravity and make things float away as well as bring you closer." She beamed proudly as if expecting a response. Wendy only eased her breathing as she glared at her friend and pushed her tangled hair out of her face.

"So," said Dipper quickly before something was said that someone would regret. "Hi Wendy, nice to see you. You're probably wondering what's going on."

"No," said Wendy flatly. " You and your sister are from the future. You've come back in time and you decided to travel to this little grove a week before your past selves came back for summer so no one would have noticed you." She sighed. "I wouldn't even have heard you guys if I hadn't been held up at Greasey's."

Mabel and Dipper looked at each other. There seemed to be an unspoken conversation between them in that second.

"Yes," said Mabel hesitantly.

"And no…" said Dipper slowly. "See, Wendy, we are from the future in a way...but it's more accurate to say we're from another dimension where our planet was made a few years before yours."

"Yeah," added Mabel as Wendy looked on confusedly. "Most of the things that have happened here have also happened in our world, same history, politics, wars, etcetera, but we aren't your Mabel and Dipper. There are some differences, most small, some a bit bigger."

"You are right about the mission, though," added Dipper. "Ford and I created a more stable dimensional gate and we do research on other dimensions to see what similarities and differences there are between them and why. Unfortunately, a monster from our world that Mabel and I defeated managed to hear about this portal and broke in when the security failed (nanobots McGucket made cut off the power to use as an infinite source of energy for their handheld game, we dealt with it) and then came here. Mabel and I had to follow him through the portal to bring him back."

"Huh," said Wendy, letting the words set in for a minute. "So, you guys aren't my Mabel and Dipper?" The twins from the other dimension shook their heads. "Oh." Wendy considered this. She felt a little disappointed. These weren't her twins. They were still a week away.

She shook the thought from her head. Maybe they weren't the Mabel and Dipper from this world, but they were still a Mabel and Dipper. They still had an adventure to give her.

She suddenly noticed that they were staring at her expectantly. She grinned at them. Then she reached out and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "So, a bad guy is on the run and the Mystery Twins are out to save the day." She squeezed their shoulders gently. "How can I help?"

"Actually," said Dipper, "you can't." He gently lifted her hand from his shoulder. "You can't even tell anyone about us."

She stared at him. What was he talking about?

"We can't risk affecting this universe's timeline," explained Mabel, reaching into the backpack. "We only even told you all this so that all the information you had would be brought to the surface. Makes it easier to do this." Mabel's arm was a blur and suddenly something slapped Wendy in the face. "Memory wipe!" cried Mabel triumphantly.

Dipper gently pulled a white, soft, wet square of fabric from an annoyed Wendy's face. "This is a baby wipe, Mabel."

Mabel gave a snort. "Pfft! What? No way! That would mean I - oh. Oh man, my poor baby! He's gonna be so cranky! If he remembers…"

"You have a baby?" asked Wendy, the anger vanishing and replaced by joy. "What's his name? What's he like? Who's the dad?"

Dipper groaned. "See what you've done now, Mabel? Look, leave this to me. Go over there and be random while I deal with this."

Mabel gave Dipper a dirty look but did move away from them while muttering under her breathe. "Pfft! Telling me to be random! Can't order someone to be random. Takes away the randomness. Except that time I decided I'd only be random from five to four. But I decided that randomly!"

Dipper shook his head and turned to an excited Wendy. "So how old is the baby?" she asked.

"I'm sorry about the memory wipe," said Dipper sincerely, ignoring her question. "I want to talk to you about why you can't tell anyone about us. See, Wendy, we might not be from _your_ future but we're still from _a_ future. That means we can still impact things for you. If we accidentally let something slip about our world it can change things here. If I tell you the name of the guy you marry in our world it could have a major impact on you here. Maybe you'll marry him because I said he's great in my world, only for it to turn out he's a jerk in this one."

"Wouldn't be the first jerk I dated," muttered Wendy.

Dipper smiled at her. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Hey, love hurts sometimes, sometimes more than we think we can bear." He leaned closer and said with more force: "But it can also make us greater and stronger than we ever imagined. And when that happens there's no pain in the world we wouldn't go through to feel that love again." He turned suddenly solemn when he said: "In a multiverse anything is possible, and that isn't always a good thing. Imagine if you tell Mabel you met a version of herself who's beautiful and still as cheerful and wild as she was as a child, and that she fell in love with a great guy and had a son she loves more than anything. Now imagine if that doesn't happen in this reality. Imagine she gets divorced and never has that child. I can't say that won't happen here because I'm not from _thi_ s future. How would it make her feel to know there's a happier Mabel out there? Would it make her happy that one version of her is happy? Or would it eat at her, make her think that somehow she messed up and it's her fault she didn't get that happy ending?"

Wendy hesitated. "I... never thought of it like that," she admitted.

Dipper surprised her by taking her hands and looking her straight in the eye, something too bold for her younger Dipper.

"I love my sister," he said softly. "In every universe I've seen there is no one is more important to me at this age than Mabel. I'm not willing to take a risk and hurt her like this if things go bad in this world. I'm not willing to take that risk for anyone, not you, my parents, anyone. Are you?"

 _He's taller than me,_ Wendy realised suddenly. _And he didn't react to me mentioning my exes. My Dipper would have been fidgeting or scratching himself him awkwardly. My Dipper wouldn't be able to hold my hands like this or look me in the eye for so long without getting sweaty or blushing. There's no hat either. He's not embarrassed by his birthmark anymore. You can see it if you look closely but he doesn't care anymore._ She looked into those hazel eyes she thought she knew so well.

But she didn't know this pair. Not really.

She hesitated, struggling with what this new Dipper was saying. She wanted this adventure so badly. But what if this Dipper was right? What if she found out something about this pair of twins that could somehow affect the future of her own Dipper and Mabel? Was she willing to risk that?

She sighed. "Okay. I'll - I'll just head back to the Shack." She smiled at them again before she stuck her hands in her pockets and turned to leave. Back to the Shack, back to maybe a day or two of excitement with the Stans before the boredom returned and she'd be forced to wait again for her own Dipper and Mabel to return. She called to this other pair over her shoulder. "But if you do need help, just let us know. Soos, and the Stans and I are there to help and have your back. Whatever world you're from."

She started to whistle when a panicked whisper asked "What did you say?"

She turned back to them in surprise. Dipper stared at her. Mabel, a look of horror on her face glanced from her to brother to Wendy, her hands clasped to her mouth. Both were pale.

"I said we've always got your back," said Wendy nervously. She looked between them, alarmed by their reactions.

"You said the Stans were there." Mabel swallowed audibly before stepping forward, her voice rising slightly. "You said they were at the Shack. Both of them?"

"Yeah," said Wendy with a casual shrug, not revealing the growing nervousness at their reactions. "They just came in this morning. I was on my way to see them." She shrugged again. "I was bringing them coffee."

"Oh no," said Dipper clutching his head in panic as stared into space. "No. No no no! No!" he hissed as he pulled out the device he had earlier.

Wendy started. Their reactions were alarming her so much she was starting to lose her cool exterior. Monsters, madmen and the unnatural she had seen the twins handle with ease. But this seemed different to them for some reason. "Whoa whoa whoa," she said, holding up her hands. "What's up? Are the Stan's in your world, like, bad guys or something? Ours aren't like that! They're the good guys! They can help with whatever's going on."

"They're not supposed to be here. They were supposed to arrive the same day we did! We're in the wrong dimension," Muttered dipper, as much to himself as to Mabel or Wendy. Mabel looked at him with a worried glance, biting her lower lip and trembling despite the warmth and her sweater. Her reaction was worrying Wendy most of all. When Mabel stopped being Mabel things really were bad. "He must have hit the control panel. Idiot had no idea what he was doing. I didn't think to check. Why didn't I check?"

Dipper was pacing back and forth so fast he was practically running.

Mabel rushed up to him and grabbed him to stop his pacing, forcing him to turn to her. "Dipper! It's okay, we just need to focus! Re-calibrate you're doohickey thingamajig! You're smarter than this this jerk! He can't even get his magic spells right! We beat him last time with a movie poster, a brick wall and some spray paint! We can beat him now too!" She held out a fist. "Mystery Twins?"

Dipper looked at the outstretched hand. Then he smiled at his sister. "Mystery twins," he agreed knocking his fist into hers.

Mabel turned to Wendy. "Wendy, we do need your help. This buttface we're after hit the machine with the dimensional coordinates. We thought we were in a dimension a lot closer to ours, where we knew where everyone was and where he'd be going if we couldn't catch up to him. But this world's different from the one we knew. We need somebody who knows this town. Can you help us nail this jerk with an extra butt on his stupid face?"

Inside, Wendy sighed with relief. _This is more like Mabel_. "Sure dudes, happy to help! Gets me off work anyhow."

Mabel laughed and Dipper gave a slight smile. "You really are like our Wendy! Know how to use an axe?"

Wendy gave snort. "Hell yeah! I'm still a Corduroy ain't I?" She reached behind her back and pulled out her trusty weapon and swung it with a casual air.

"Great!" Mabel clapped her hands and rubbed them together with anticipation, her worries seeming like a thing from the distant past. "Now," she said, "Do you, by any chance, know where we can find Pacifica Northwest?"


	3. Chapter 3

Soos hummed tunelessly as he checked his reflection in the mirror of his office, making sure the fez was at just the right angle, that the eyepatch added that roguish charm, that the suit looked dapper.

Heh, dapper. That was a good word. He ought to remember to thank Dipper for suggesting it. Heh, Dipper Dapper. Dude that, like, rhymed! He ought to make a note of that!

Just as he was looking for a pen, the phone rang. Pressing the speaker button so that he could still search for a pen with both hands, he answered: "Hey dude, you've like, reached the office of Mister Mystery at the Mystery Shack! How can I help?"

"Soos, it's Wendy! Listen, I-"

"Oh, hey Wendy! How's it going?"

"Yeah it's fine, but-"

"Uh, hey Wendy? I, uh, don't mean to be, like, a buzzkill or anything but you're running pretty late!"

"Yeah, I know I'm-"

"I mean, even more than Wendy late, which is, like, late! Kinda unfair to Melody!"

"I'm sorry Soos! Look, I won't be in to work this morning, maybe at all today. Something's come up."

Soos frowned at the tone in her voice. "Everything okay, Dawg? It's nothing serious or nothin'?"

"Look, I can't go into details but it's important. It's Gravity Falls weirdness alright? Somebody needs help."

"Aw, dude! Let me just close the Shack for today! If it's that serious you might need my help! Or I can ask the Mister Pineses to-"

"NO!" The yell actually made Soos jump. It was so loud it was almost like three people yelled! "No," Wendy said again, but quieter. "Listen, I do need your help, but not here. I've got a special mission for you at the Shack. You ready?"

Soos stood up as straight as he could and saluted. "Handyman of the Apocalypse ready and disposable! State the mission, Dawg!"

"I need you to keep the Stans busy."

"Uhh," said Soos, his salute faltering. "Like, with yard work and stuff? Cause I don't think they'd appreciate that."

"What? No - I don't know! Just - ask them stories about their adventures. Keep them in the shack all day. Get them to tell stories, they both love to talk. Be the fanboy you were meant to be!"

"I am a fanboy-man," agreed Soos. " I can totally do that!"

"Great. But one more thing. DO NOT tell them that I gave you this mission. If they find out that we're trying to stop them going into town they'll definitely go there."

"Aw, man! I'm not good at keeping secrets! My Abuelita raised me too good!"

There was silence on the phone for a moment and then: "Soos, this is important. A life is at stake. And it's about Dipper and Mabel. Can you do this?"

Soos turned to his reflection in the mirror, his arm still held in salute. He looked at the man in the mirror. "Yes," he said. He turned back to the phone. "I will ask them questions all day. And I will say nothing about this phone call to either of them."

Another moment of silence followed. "Thanks, Soos. I owe you one, man."

With that the call ended, and Soos finally let the hand fall to his side. He would carry out this mission. He would ask questions until he ran out of questions. And then he would ask them if they had any questions so he could ask those same questions back. And most of all, he would not tell either of the men about his phone call.

"Well, no time like the present!" he said cheerfully. He turned to the other two men in the room. "So, Mister Pinses! What did you do yesterday?"

Stan and Ford shared a glance. "You know what?" said Stan rising from the chair. "Think I'm gonna hit the hay." He stretched and gave a big yawn as he made his way out the door. "I'll just head upstairs and sleep. For the whole day. In the Shack. Away from town."

"Awesome, dude!" said Soos, relieved that now he only had one person to distract. "So, Doctor Pines, where do-"

Ford stood up suddenly and slapped himself on the forehead. "Good heavens! I completely forgot about a very pressing, long and dangerous experiment that I had to do in my old lab! I'll have to head down to my lab and stay there alone for the rest of the day!" Ford turned and strode out the door. "See you at dinner!"

Soos blinked. This was easier than he thought! He wouldn't need to ask any questions at all!

"You've done well, Soos," he told his reflection as outside, two men jumped into a car and drove as fast as they could towards town. "You've done well."

Peering around the corner, Dipper looked through his special binoculars at Greasy's Diner and switched the setting to scan for live bodies.

"I see her," he told the others. "She's at the counter. Must be ordering something."

"Probably just her break," said Wendy standing out in the open with her hands behind her head. "Dude, let's just go in."

"We can't just go in like this! People could tell it's us! It's not like we can go in and say: 'Hi we're Mabel and Dipper's older cousins who are also twins called Mabel and Dipper!'"

"You are?" asked Deputy Durland, somehow sneaking up on all three of them and making them jump. "Well that's mighty peculiar!"

"Er," said Dipper glancing at Wendy who shrugged.

"We were a poor family," said Mabel softly. "Our parents had to share everything. Including their children's names." She brightened up as she gleefully added: "But what we lacked in money and names we made up with love and pigs!"

"Yep!" declared the Deputy. "That makes sense to me! A happy family is a sharing family!" And with that he walked back exactly the way he came, holding out his truncheon as he hummed to himself and striking every car on the road, setting off several alarms.

As he walked away Dipper and Mabel smiled at each other. "I love this town," they said together.

"Yeah, yeah, terrible law enforcement helps make this town great," said Wendy. "But why's this guy after Pacifica anyway?"

"He needs the blood of a royal family to complete the spell that he thinks will grant him more power," answered Dipper as Mabel began looking through her backpack.

"Pacifica counts as royalty?" asked Wendy.

"No," sighed Dipper. "But she's rich and has long hair. Which is enough for him. We're dealing with an idiot."

"But he's our problem so we can't just leave him here." Mabel pulled a few items from her pack. "Here we go, bro!" she said, dragging him into a nearby alley as Wendy followed curiously. When she had turned the corner, Mabel was already halfway through transforming her brother into someone else. A dark fuzzy beard was now attached to his face as Mabel sprayed his hair, turning the brown to black almost as easily as a videogame barber and making him look a few years older. When his fair had fully turned, she stroked his forehead with what looked like a normal makeup brush until he was birthmark free.

"My turn!" she said brightly and adjusted the spray before turning it on herself, this time turning her hair blond.

"So, who is this guy anyway?" asked Wendy as Mabel started spraying her long hair. "You said he had magic?"

"Yes," said Dipper checking his reflection in a puddle. "He's a gnome - you know about the gnomes, right? Okay, so he's a gnome who tried to use magic to take over Gravity Falls last year. But Mabel and I kept stopping him. He was more of a running joke for us really. It's hard to take a guy seriously when even a six-year-old can knock him out with one punch."

"And she has her dad's noodle arms," Mabel added, realising too late what she had said as Dipper groaned.

"Mabel!"

"You have a daughter?", Wendy almost squeed, looking at Dipper with delight.

"Sorry!"

"Back to the problem at hand," growled Dipper. "This guy, Biff, was such a joke even the gnomes kicked him out. But he found a spell to transform himself into something else and make him half-gnome, half-animal."

"Let me guess," said Wendy, "It backfired?"

"No, the spell worked fine. But he was still an idiot so it barely helped. He's tougher now, but Mabel just spray-painted some pictures of us onto a movie poster with some treasure in the background. Stuck it on a brick wall, and called him names as we hid behind it. He charged into it twice and knocked himself out."

"It was a plan worthy of Bugs Bunny and a sibling self-portrait worthy of Mabel," grinned Mabel, finishing colouring her hair. "There we go, how do we look?"

Wendy looked at them. Dipper now seemed a few years older than the blond woman beside him. The faces were still similar to the younger twins, but between the different hair colours, the beard on Dipper and the absence of braces for Mabel, the resemblance was much less noticeable. If Wendy didn't already know these were alternate versions of the twins, she doubted that she would think of it as more than a passing resemblance.

But it didn't sit well with her. It was another reminder to her that these were not the twins that she knew.

"You look completely different," she said.

"Yes!" said Mabel giving a fist pump as Dipper gave Wendy a look that suggested he knew what she really meant. "I am awesome in any dimension! Let's go!"

"You okay?" Dipper asked Wendy as they made their way to the Diner.

"Yeah," sighed Wendy as they crossed the street. "I just miss my own Dipper and Mabel, you know? I keep forgetting that you aren't really them."

"Yeah," agreed Dipper. "It's hard for us too. We can't tell you things that we'd like to in case things are different her." He gently bumped his hip against hers. "But we'll get through this and then you can tell them all about how you had an adventure without them." He smiled at her. "Make them jealous."

"Age before beauty!" declared Mabel, holding the door open with a theatrical arm and expectant grin.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Every single time," he muttered as he stepped through the doorway, closely followed by his sister.

"Shouldn't you be first, since you were five minutes earlier?" Wendy asked Mabel quietly as they settled into a booth.

Mabel blinked at her. "I was? No, Dip- I mean, he's seven minutes older. Does he use that age before beauty line in this universe?"

"Uh, no actually," she explained as Dipper looked on with interest. "Mabel just uses the line 'I'll tell you when you're older' on him sometimes." She smirked. "That really annoys him."

Dipper chuckled. "'I'll tell you when you're older.' I'll have to use that one."

"What can I get you?"

The three looked at Pacifica Northwest, wearing a waitress outfit just like Lazy Susan's and with a fluffy pink pen and notepad in hand.

"Coffee," said Wendy automatically. "With cream."

"Okay," said Pacifica, making a quick note. "And what can I get for you two?"

The twins stared at her as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"You work here?" asked an incredulous Mabel.

"Um," said Pacifica and giving Wendy a quick glance, "Yes? Can I get you anything?"

Mabel glanced at Dipper who only shrugged. "Two coffees? One black, the other with ten sugars and cream?"

Pacifica raised an eyebrow at the ten sugars but made no comment. She cleared her throat before turning to Wendy. "Did you get to speak to the Pines brothers?" she asked, facing away from the twins and missing the wince Wendy saw them make at the mention of their great uncles.

"Uh, no. Sorry, I missed them. I'm helping these, er, relatives of mine. But I'll make sure that they get that stuff you made for them," she added quickly, seeing the look on Pacifica's face.

Pacifica nodded before leaving, quickly adding: "Thank you," as if she still struggled with the words sometimes.

Mabel and Dipper watched her leave with awe before turning their enquiring stares to Wendy.

"I take it your Pacifica doesn't work here?" she hazarded.

"Preston would have had a fit to even see her in a place like this," hissed Dipper as Mabel nodded. "What's she doing here?"

"Well," began Wendy, finding it strange to explain all of this to the twins, "After Northwest lost his billions when he invested in Bill's Weirdness bonds-"

"His - he what?"

"Yeah, her dad tried to invest his money in Bill and his Weirdness bonds to make a profit from the apocalypse and lost it all when we beat Bill." Wendy couldn't hide her smirk.

The siblings shared a glance then looked back at Wendy.

"How'd he manage to invest in anything if Gravity Falls was cut off from the rest of reality? Wouldn't that take some time to arrange?" asked Mabel.

"Uh," said Wendy, frowning.

"Why'd he invest anything with Bill after he appeared? Didn't he realise Bill didn't care about him after he messed up Preston's face?" added Dipper.

"When did he have time to even do it? Didn't Bill send his eyebats to capture the town almost straight away?"

"And how could he even do it in the first place if Bill rearranged his face? Didn't that stop him from being able to talk?"

"Where's the little girl's room again? I can't remember, it's been so long since you accidentally blew this place up in our universe."

"Stop telling her these things!" hissed Dipper.

"Back there," said Wendy, pointing behind her, finally relieved to find a simple question she could answer. "Wait, what do you-"

"Tell you never," sang Mabel as she skipped away from the booth.

"What did she mean by-"

It was then that Pacifica delivered their coffees, briefly derailing the new line of questioning.

"Alright," said Wendy, leaning closer to Dipper when Pacifica was out of earshot, "What's the deal with you guys and the Stans? Why are you two so freaked out by them?"

"Did we ever dance?"

The question came out of the blue, taking her completely by surprise. "Dance?"

Dipper nodded. "At the party Stan hosted at the Shack that first summer. That night I made those clones. Oh, did I never tell you about that? Well I made some clones that night. The plan was to help them set the perfect mood. The main point was simple: make clones to help set the mood, dance with Wendy, marry Wendy." He smiled. "I never did ask my Wendy to dance that night. Even now I sometimes wish I had."

"Uh, yeah," Wendy answered slowly, deciding to leave the question about the clones for the other Dipper. "We did. A few times. You were pretty nervous."

"Yes I was, so nervous I barely had the courage to even talk to you that night, and never worked up the nerve to ask you for a dance." He sipped his coffee. "An impossible crush on an impossible girl…"

Wendy didn't know how to reply to that. Another difference between the Dippers. This one was so much calmer and more open about matters of the heart. Then again, this Dipper had probably moved on decades ago.

Dipper sighed again, reaching for the tray as Wendy took another gulp. "I was so shocked when you married Gideon."

Wendy spat the coffee out just as Dipper lifted the tray as a makeshift shield.

"I WHAT?" She screamed as Dipper laughed. "Are - are you joking with me? That's not funny!"

"It's hilarious!" laughed Dipper as he wiped the table. "I never get to do that where I'm from! Our lumberjill is way too experienced to fall for something like that." He grinned at her as she wiped her mouth and glared at him. "But I was trying to make a point. My past is not your future. What Mabel and I keep secret, we keep a secret for a reason. It's not just to protect you," he added. "It's to protect us too."

Still wiping at her shirt, she almost asked him what he meant when another thought suddenly popped into her head. "What did Bob turn into?"

"Who?"

"Bob the gnome, you said he made himself half animal. Which animal?"

Dipper groaned at the stupidity of his unfortunate enemy. "You mean Biff. Biff the gnome. He found a book about lycanthropy and how to eternally turn himself into a mixture of any animal he wanted."

"Lycanthropy," said Wendy excitedly, "You mean like a werewolf? Like the mailman? Is Soos right about him?"

"He's not one in my universe," said Dipper with a shrug. "But no, Biff thought that was too average so he used the blood of another creature to be more exotic." Dipper sipped his coffee again with a roll of his eyes. "No, he's a werearmadillo."

"...Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"You mean half man, half-"

"Yes. Well, technically half gnome instead of man, but...yeah. Could have been anything; snake, crocodile, bear, multi-bear...and he picks a burrowing insect eater."

"Wow," she said flopping back in her chair as she mulled that over. "I can see why you two think he's not a threat."

That was when they heard Pacifica cry out, followed by a crash and the snarl of what sounded like a wild animal.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, what do you think the problem is?" asked Stanley as he turned a corner too quickly, the tyres of the Stanmobile screeching in protest. "Why would Wendy say it's about the kids and then tell Soos to keep us distracted? I just don't get it."

"I have no idea Stanley," said Stanford as he kept a firm grip on the car door and his seat and kept his eyes off the road to keep Stanley's driving off his mind. He instead looked to the side, trying to keep an eye out for a familiar redhead or anything that looked unusual enough to draw attention. "Maybe it just be something she said to stop Soos asking too many questions?"

"Nah," said Stanley after a moment's thought. "She may be lazy as sin but there's no way she'd lie about the kids to get out of work. They're too important to her. Something's up."

Ford said nothing, too busy thinking and looking. It was only when he felt the first spatter of rain on his hand that he paused to roll up his window. And as he finished and looked up, he saw what appeared to be some figures fighting outside the diner.

"Stanley! Stop! Go back!"

"What, where?" snapped Stan as he looked all around, the vehicle swerving so wildly that a screaming Deputy Durland jumped into the arms of a similarly screaming Sheriff Blubs.

"Over there," gasped Ford as he tightened his grip on his seat. "I'm sure I saw Miss Corduroy by Greasy's Diner!"

"Got it," grunted Stan doing a 560-degree spin, much to the horror of several townspeople, and sped back to the lone building.

The two brothers jumped out the car and for half a second stood there, shocked at what they saw.

"Hot Belgian Waffles!" screamed Stan, "What the H is going on?"

"Stupid Wendy," muttered Pacifica as she heaved the trash out the back. "Give her one job and all she does is take some strangers on a tour. How hard is it to deliver some cookies and cupcakes?"

She wiped her forehead as she finished her task. "No idea why Mabel and Dipper like her so much," she grunted. Then she caught herself, remembering that Wendy had still promised to deliver the snacks and had even apologised for not delivering them yet. She also recalled the bravery the older girl had shown during Never Mind All That, parachuting into the monster's lair and even drawing an axe when the beast had threatened the twins.

And even before that, she had helped Dipper rescue Mabel from her prison and helped the team to build McGucket's greatest machine.

Which is more than anyone could say of a certain blond who would rather sit back and read a magazine than help her town build the weapon needed to save the world. She blew out a deep breath as the guilt of her self-centred attitude came back to her. Good old Pacifica, act nice when things are easy but revert back to being the selfish brat when things are tough. Dad would be proud.

She pushed that thought aside. She would be better than her father. She would be the greatest Northwest there ever was. And if that meant she had to dirty her hands, then all the better. Just like everyone else. She smiled, feeling a sense of pride at that thought. Pride was a familiar feeling to her, but this sense of pride was different from the kind she had felt for most of her life. Probably because it was justified.

She was about to go back inside as the first drops of rain hit, but found a short figure blocking her path, less than waist height to her and wearing a purple robe that hid all of it's features.

"Pacifica Northwest," hissed the mysterious figure, menace in its voice. "I have come to-"

"Go away Jeff," snapped Pacifica, marching past the figure. "I've already told you I'm not interested in being your queen. Stop bothering me!"

"What? No wait-" said the figure, scurrying to get back in front of her. It cleared its throat and repeated in the same menacing voice: "I have come to take you from here, where I will use your blood to give me infinite power and rule this world! Come with me and your blood will make me immortal! Teeheehee!"

"Did you just say 'teeheehee'?" asked Pacifica.

"No! I would not do such things! For I am mighty!" the figure cried, stretching it arms out dramatically as the rain continued, darkening the fabric of its robe.

"Riiight," said Pacifica, brushing her hair out of her face, "Well that's nice and all, but I have work to do and my hair's getting wet-" She moved to step around the figure but it dashed in front of her and snarled like an animal.

"Foolish girl! You will rue the day that you - hey! What're you - put me down!" he snapped as Pacifica picked him up, took aim and with the skill of a soccer player, drop kicked him into the woods.

Brushing her hair out of her face again, she sighed and turned back to do the rest of her shift and just in time saw, in the reflection of the door window, a small pink creature throw itself at her. She cried out in surprise and ducked as it snarled loudly and sent one claw through the door window.

Pacifica scrambled away from the creature and fully saw it for the first time.

It had discarded the robe and stood there in only a pair of shorts, its long, muscular arms ending in padded fists with small, sharp claws. Its back was hunched and protected by a plated dome that also stretched to guard the top of its head and the back of its arms and legs. It snarled at her again, its ears flattening as small, sharp teeth bared at her beneath two tiny black eyes. It would have been very intimidating if he wasn't half her size and pink.

"No more!" It screamed at her. "Too many times have I been ignored and mocked! This is the day that I will have my revenge!" he flexed his small, sharp claws at her and took a step forward.

Which was unfortunate for him as Wendy choose that moment to kick the back door open, slamming it straight in his face.

"Pacifica, are you okay?" She asked rushing to help her. "Are you hurt?"

Pacifica only gaped as the man who had been at the booth with Wendy also kicked open the back door, (again into the face of the strange, unfortunate creature) and drew a strange pistol from his jacket as he joined them. "Where is he?" he asked the girl, the rain turning his hair brown as it swept the black dye down his face.

"Dipper Pines!"

They turned to face the creature, wiping its bloody nose on a padded palm. "I knew you would follow me here. You cannot stop me!"

"Shut up, Biff!" snapped Dipper, rolling his eyes. "My girls beat you by themselves and they're only eight!"

"Man," muttered Wendy, "He's short. Thought he'd be at least bigger than a normal gnome."

"Dipper?" asked Pacific, looking up at the tall figure standing beside her, his jaw set in a firm scowl and his eyes narrowed in a steely gaze.

"Wait," murmured Wendy, thinking back on what Dipper had said. "Girls? Both eight?" She grinned at the alternate Dipper. "Do you have twins?"

"Hah!" called out a voice as Dipper winced. "See, it's not just me letting things slip!"

"Shut up, Mabel! Get out here!"

"Mabel?" asked Pacifica, getting more confused by the second as the figure before her had his hair returned to its natural brown, the birthmark clearly visible now that the makeup had been washed away.

"Not before I wipe!" called Mabel from the restroom, causing her brother to cringe. "You can take him bro!"

"We'll see about that!" snarled Biff as he launched himself at the three.

Wendy had her axe out but was taken off-guard by the creature's speed, not giving her enough time to lift it in front of her as a makeshift shield, ready to protect the alternate future version of her friend and Pacifica when suddenly she felt herself being dragged to the ground as Biff flew over them.

Dipper grabbed both girls, dragging them down as the werearmadillo slashed at where their heads had been. He rolled and took the girls with him as Biff rammed his claws into the dirt and dashed at where they would have lay if Dipper hadn't moved them.

Dipper kept rolling as Biff tried to charge at them again, ramming into the trashcans and getting stunned from the crash and the many sudden movements.

"Are you alright?" Dipper asked, straightening his arms out and looking them over as the girls looked up at him in surprise.

"Dude, you just saved our lives!" gasped Wendy as Pacifica nodded vigorously.

He gave a nonchalant shrug. "I'm just more experienced than you. You'll probably save me plenty of times." He glanced back at Biff who was getting back to his feet and shaking his head clear. "Take care of Pacifica," he ordered Wendy as got to his feet, raising his pistol.

Biff blinked away the stars as he saw his foe marching towards him and took aim. Then he was knocked to his knees as the lid from the garbage can slammed into his back and flew into Dipper's open hand.

Biff just had time to look up and dive as Dipper threw the lid at him like a discus. "Hah! Missed" he snapped, just before Dipper pulled the trigger again and the lid struck him again in the back.

Dipper holstered the magnet gun and caught the metal lid, stepping forward and slamming it into the werearmadillo's jaw, knocking him onto his back. Not letting up, Dipper dropped to his knees over his foe and took his makeshift weapon in both hands, raising it above his head and then brought it down hard on Biff's head. Seeing that the creature was still conscious, he raised it again, ready to give the knockout blow and-

"Hot Belgian Waffles!" yelled a voice that made Dipper freeze. "What the H is going on?"

Dipper turned to them, still in mid-swing, staring at the figures who stood staring back at him in shock.

"Is that Dipper?" asked Ford, wiping at his glasses and staring at the adult version of his great-nephew kneeling speechlessly over a squirming pink creature.

Dipper swallowed, audible even over the rain as he looked at the men. He took a deep breath and moved to stand when suddenly a claw backhanded him, tearing the false beard from his face and knocking him to the side, causing the others to cry out in alarm.

Ford drew his laser pistol and took aim but found that, with the rain on his glasses and his great-nephew between them, he couldn't get a clear shot.

"Now," hissed Biff, getting to his feet as Ford tried to squint through his glasses and Wendy took aim with her axe, "I will take my revenge!" Then the monster felt a lurch as he was suddenly lifted through the air. He called out in alarm as he felt himself somehow being pulled away from his foe and felt the lurch again as the ground rushed to meet him.

Wendy glanced to her side and saw Mabel step forward, her gravity hook in hand as she twisted a dial. The rain was washing the blonde dye from her hair and as she turned the dial again, forcing Biff back into the sky. With another twist of the dial he was sent back to the ground with a grunt. With a glare and a scowl that Wendy had never seen, Mabel twisted the dial again and again until the werearmadillo was clearly out for the count. "No one messes with my family," she said softly as her brother joined her.

Dipper looked at his sister and took her hand without saying a word. Then, together, they turned to face the two men who were rushing to meet them.


	5. Chapter 5

They quickly explained the situation to the Stans and Pacifica; Wendy doing most of the talking as Dipper and Mabel said little. Wendy noticed this but she guessed that the others assumed that this was due to Dipper's injury and Mabel's concern for her brother, mixed with their own shock at seeing adult versions of the twins. As bizarre as she found it to see a grown Mabel and Dipper, she guessed that it must be much stranger for the Pines brothers to see them as adults. It had helped that Dipper had briefly grunted that they were reluctant to give details about their world in case it could affect this one, something Ford had quickly agreed with while Stanley called Soos ("He had it on loudspeaker again, didn't he?" muttered Wendy, "I need to talk to him about that.") and after a several minutes of questions, Stan eventually ordered him to pick them up now and save the questions for later.

It took only a few awkwardly quiet minutes for Soos and Melody to arrive, bringing with them the dog cage that Dipper had suggested.

Without a fuss, Wendy and Stan threw the unconscious Biff into the makeshift prison cell and padlocked it.

And just like that, the adventure was over.

Wendy felt the excitement fading away like a long-lost friend who had to leave too soon.

Dipper quickly told the others that since Biff was now captured, they should return home immediately to avoid any dimensional cross-contamination or any further revelations about their separate future. Mabel said nothing. At first, she had either kept her eyes on Dipper or the ground. Then, when her brother had given his explanation about the dangers of being in another timeline universe, she had looked at Stanley, only looking away whenever he had glanced at her.

"Fascinating," said Ford pulling out a notepad and making several notes. "I once visited a universe where there was an alternate version of Gravity Falls, but as far as I know, their timeline, while different, was still equal to this universe. I wonder if time progresses at a slightly faster rate in your universe or if all of the events that led to the creation of your Earth merely happened earlier?" His eyes flashed behind his glasses. "If you could answer some questions-"

"I want to go home!" said Mabel, her voice almost a wail. Everyone except Dipper turned to her in surprise, caught off-guard by her sudden vulnerability. "I have a family and I want to see my little boy, " she almost whispered.

Dipper nodded. "She's right." He took a deep breath. "We've been here too long." He looked down at his hands. "I need to see my girls again."

The gang looked at the two, knowing there was something unsaid but hesitant to ask what it was.

"You heard her, Brainiac," snapped Stan suddenly, elbowing his brother sharply. "She wants to go home and see her kid. Get in my car." He pointed at Pacifica. "You too, sweetie. You'll probably want to say goodbye." Pacifica nodded. "Soos, you come with us too." He rolled his eyes. "Ford can answer the billion stupid questions you've got with words so long we'll probably arrive before he finishes the first sentence."

"Can do, Mister Pines!"

Wendy unceremoniously threw Biff's cage into the back of Soos' pickup truck as Mabel and Dipper slid into the back seats. They had barely said a word that wasn't a brief explanation. Not even to her. In fact, she didn't think that Mabel had even said one word outside of her outburst. She jumped into the passenger seat of the truck.

"Everyone put on their seatbelts?" asked Melody, turning to face the others.

"Yes," said Wendy and Dipper together. They all turned to Mabel who merely nodded.

Melody looked at Wendy who could only shrug in response.

The rest of the drive was in near silence as Wendy directed Melody to the woods where she had first met the counterpart twins, Stanley following behind in his own car. Wendy was sure he and Ford were concerned over the cold reaction they had received from their foreign family.

When the car stopped, Mabel wasted no time in heading straight for the clearing they had originally arrived at. Dipper gave an apologetic look to Wendy and Melody before collecting Biff and following her.

"Where are they going?" asked Pacifica as the others stepped out of Stan's car.

"I guess they must have a time-limit or something," said Soos, sadness in his voice.

"Come on," grunted Stanley, pushing aside the bushes. "There's no way we're not going to say goodbye to them. Not after all this."

They found them in the clearing, Dipper laying down a flat mat as Mabel stuck two rods into the ground at the mat's sides and pushed buttons on the devices.

Dipper glanced back to see them approaching and said something to Mabel who tightened her lips and nodded. Then they stepped up to meet them.

"So," began Dipper nervously. "We just wanted to say thank you all for your help. We're very grateful to you all."

"Coulda fooled me," muttered Stan, earning a sharp nudge from his brother.

Dipper winced and cleared his throat. "Sorry, we can't keep any temporary portals open for too long, and we really do want to go back." He glanced back at Mabel before adding: "But we shouldn't leave without saying our goodbyes."

He took a step forward to speak to them all. "Wendy, you're awesome in every universe. Pacifica...if you're anything like our version then you'll outshine the rest of your family." Wendy grinned as Pacifica turned a slight pink and mumbled a 'thank you'. "Soos, Melody - you two are amazing together. It's almost a multiversal constant."

"Aww, shucks dude," grinned Soos as Melody smiled happily.

Dipper grinned at them and then turned back to the Stans, his smile faltering slightly. "You guys are the best," he said more seriously. "We love you both and we are so glad to have met you."

Ford grabbed Dipper's hand and shook it. "You're a fine young man, Dipper," said Ford looking him in the eye. "I'm proud of you. Even if you become different in this universe, I will still be so proud of you."

"Yeah," agreed Stanley, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. "You've turned out alright kid." He chuckled. "Glad too much of me didn't rub off on ya."

"Wh-why would you say something like that?"

They all turned at the tone in her voice, Mabel glaring at Stanley in a way the others had never seen before.

"Uh-" began Stanley, startled by the look she gave him.

"Why would you say something like that?" she asked again, stepping towards him with such intensity that Stanley took a few steps back.

"Well - I mean -" he said, struggling to find the words. "You know, he's got the wife, the kids, the decent job." Stan swallowed and tried to laugh it off, flustered by the strange situation. "I just meant it's a good thing he didn't end up more like me?" he said, trying to grin and failing at a chuckle.

Mabel stared at him, shock replacing the anger faster than a slap. Then she rushed forward and hit him on the chest. "You idiot!" she yelled, hitting him again and again. "You stupid old man!"

"Ow! Ow!" cried Stanley, wincing and looking around at the others who were lost for words. "What did I do?"

The hand froze mid-strike as Mabel stared at him incredulously. "What did you do?" she asked. She stepped back and spread her arms wide as if to show him the world. "You did everything, you idiot! Everyone is here because if you!" she screamed at him.

She pointed a finger at Wendy, the tall girl actually flinching for fear of being the next target of her bizarre assault. "Who gave Wendy a job when no one else would? Huh? Who took her in just to stop her dad sending her away?" The finger moved, startling its next mark. "Who took Pacifica in, giving her shelter when the world went to hell? Who protected her when her family was taken by Bill's monsters?" The finger moved again, selecting them one by one. "Who was a better father to Soos than his own dad, taught him to box and stand up for himself? Who gave him the Mystery Shack, making his dreams come true and letting him make enough money to support his girlfriend and his grandmother? Who spent thirty damn years trying to get his brother back? Even after the last thing you did was fight." Her voice faltered as she looked at the ground and took a deep breath before continuing, quieter than she was before. "Even after you fought and hadn't even seen each other for years, you still worked so hard to bring him back. And you still helped so many others, Stanley. You took all those people in during Weirdmageddon. You were willing to sacrifice yourself to beat Bill." She looked up again, the tears running down her cheeks. "Who took in two kids summer after summer and gave them the best times of their lives? It wasn't the mysteries or the adventures that made those summers so great, Stan. It was the time we spent together as a family."

Stan could only stare at her, completely at a loss for words. He looked at Ford and saw a strange expression; a mixture of pride, confusion and sadness. The others looked just as confused as Stanley felt. Dipper had his face turned away, his expression hidden.

"Why would you say something like that?"

He glanced back at Mabel, her lip trembling. "He should be proud to be like you. He _is_ like you Stanley. He's kind and brave and does everything for his family. He's a hero. Just like you, Stanley." She swallowed heavily and then repeated: "You're our hero Stanley! You always were! Before Bill! Before everything! You were always a hero." Her shoulders shook as the heavy sobs came, no longer having the strength to hold them back. "I just wish I'd told you," she heaved, the words struggling to come out. "I never got to tell you and now it's too late. I never got to say goodbye. I'm so sorry we fought! I never said I was sorry! I miss you Stanley!" She fell to her knees, clutching herself. "I miss you so much!"

They stood in the clearing, the woman's sobs drowning out all other sounds as her brother faced away from them, his shoulders shaking. Wendy hesitantly put a hand on Dipper's shoulder and he reached a hand up to meet it. Ford removed his glasses as he wiped away his tears and behind him Soos held his hands to his mouth as Melody leaned against him, her eyes wet as she put a gentle hand on the back of a lost looking Pacifica.

Stanley turned back to the mourning woman on her knees in the wet grass. He swallowed and knelt down, gently taking her chin in his hand and lifting her face so that she could see him. "Hey there, kiddo," he said as softly as his gruff voice would allow. "I'm not you're Stan. I don't know what happened between you." He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her face. "But I know he'd forgive you." He smiled at her "You know why? 'Cause all that stuff you just said? Makes him sound like an alright guy to me. And you called him your hero? No one who's worth defending like that would ever not forgive you." He winked. " _You_ should trust _me_ this time. I think I know what I'm talking about."

She gulped loudly, again trying to hold back the tears. Then she threw herself into his arms and buried her head in his chest, giving up on holding anything back as her grief streamed from her eyes and nose, ragged sobs halting and drowning out the words she tried to say. But he knew what she was saying anyway.

Wendy felt Dipper brush past her and suddenly he was there too, one arm around his sister, the other around his great uncle, teeth clenched as the tears ran down his cheeks.

Stanley wrapped his arms around them. "Yeah," he said as his own brother came to meet them and all four of the Pines met, their arms around each other. "I - _hnh-_ I love you too." Then, clenching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth, he bellowed, "Soos, you idiot! Get over here!"

Soos gasped and rushed over, wrapping his huge arms around them and lifting the other four as Stan grunted and Mabel gave a short laugh.

Wendy felt something tug on her sleeve and turned to see Melody, her hand still on Pacifica's back as the girl wiped a tear from her eye. "C'mon girls," said Melody softly, nodding back towards the cars. "We should give them some time."

Wendy nodded, looked at the strange family and smiled, wiping a tear from her own eye as she followed the other two women.

* * *

"That was, uh, really something," said Pacifica, after several minutes of silence at the cars.

"Yeah," agreed Wendy quietly, leaning against the pickup truck.

"Is it always like this?"

"No," said Wendy after a moment's thought. "Usually they're wild or funny or weird. Scary, sure, but also loads of fun. But this one?" She looked up at this sky, thinking. "Normally I'd be super eager to tell the dudes about any adventures I had while they were gone. But I don't think I want to tell them about this one. Seems more of a family thing this time round."

"I think that's for the best," agreed Melody as Dipper made his way towards them through the bushes.

"Hi girls," he greeted them, a smile on his lips. "I just wanted to thank you for giving us all some space. It was really kind of you. Mabel needed this." His expression flickered. "We both did." He cleared his throat. "It was a car accident." he said, as they looked at him with sympathy. "Wasn't anyone's fault. Sometimes these things happen. It was years ago, but Stan and Mabel had a fight just before it happened. It wasn't over anything important, they would have made up the next time they...but they never got a chance to settle things, y'know?"

"It's okay, dude," said Wendy. "You don't need to tell us. We're not family."

"Yes, you are," said Dipper, so quickly it surprised them. "You are all family where I'm from. And I think if you were to ask your Dipper then he'd probably say the same when he reaches my age." He smiled again. "C'mon. It's time to say goodbye. A better one this time."

When they made their way to the clearing, they saw Mabel, eyes still wet but no more tears on her face, speaking to Stanley.

"Try to walk more," she urged him. "And stretch more too. It'll be good for your back."

"Alright," grunted Stanley, like a child being admonished by his mother.

"And don't have ice cream for diner so often!"

"What!? Are you crazy, kid? I'm too old to watch what I eat!"

She reached a hand out and gently placed it against his cheek. "Please, Stanley?" she whispered. "For me?"

Stan let out a sigh and groaned. "Alright kid. For you. But I'm still eating it once a week!" he added quickly.

"Yay!" Mabel raised her fists in the air. "Expert manipulator! Right here!"

Wendy laughed along with the others then felt someone take the cap off her head, her hand shooting up a moment too late to instinctively guard it. She turned, ready for a fight, when she saw Dipper slide it back on his head. "Man, it's been years since I saw thing," he said, his voice tinted with nostalgia. "Still fits! But I always did have a big head." He slid it back off and looked at the pine tree symbol, embracing the memories it brought with it. "Glad to see you took care of this," he said, passing it back to Wendy.

"It means a lot to me," she said, donning it immediately.

Dipper grinned and reached a hand around the back of her head to pull her closer, their foreheads touching as he looked in her eyes. "Wendy Corduroy," he said as she suddenly felt heat on her cheeks. "Still the coolest person I know."

He let her go suddenly and turned to Pacifica who was watching them with a narrow gaze. "And you!" he said, kneeling down to do the same to her, turning her face pink. "In my world you are beautiful and smart and funny. Just like you are here."

"C-course I am!" she snapped, pushing away from him as her face grew too hot. "I'm Pacifica Northwest! I'm going to do great things!"

"Yeah," he agreed, "You will. And you'll make the name Northwest mean something. And, in my world, you marry a guy who 's nowhere near good enough for you. But you seem pretty happy so I won't complain."

"Dipper! Stop being frustratingly vague!"

"Shut up, Mabel! I'm trying to say goodbye!" Dipper snapped, standing up. "Way to ruin the moment," he muttered, walking over to Soos, Stan and Melody while Mabel beckoned Wendy to where she was standing with Ford.

"What's up?" asked Wendy quietly as Ford leaned in closer.

"I just wanted to thank you two for all you've done for my brother," said Mabel, smiling at them. "I don't think either of us know yet how important it is that you two like him more than you do me."

"We love you Mabel," said Ford immediately as Wendy nodded in agreement.

Mabel laughed. "And I love you both back. But I don't mean love. I mean you both like Dipper more than me. And that's great," she added hurriedly as Wendy and Ford looked at each other. "I mean it. It's always been easy for me to make friends everywhere, but for Dipper it's always been too hard. I don't think he's ever even thought about it, but it was important that in one summer we not only found people we love who love us back, but two people who met loveable, super-friendly, charming Mabel and still ended up preferring dorky, sweaty Dipper? That is so, _so_ important to him. And to me too, even if I'm not ready to admit it yet."

She focused her gaze on Wendy. "In this universe, did I ever make up someone called Dippy Fresh?" she asked, to which Wendy nodded. Mabel sighed, regret deep in the breath. "I don't think I know how much that hurt Dipper. I mean, making a replacement Dipper was terrible enough, but making him so different from the real Dipper? That was really cruel of me." Mabel shook her head sadly. "But Dipper forgave me without even hearing an apology. That's what makes him great, but that's why he needs you two. Tell him how amazing he is, because I take it for granted way too often." She turned to Ford and looked him straight in the eye. "You know what I mean," she said. "I might be more like Stan, and Dipper like you...but if there's one thing we have in common, it's that we're too used to having our brothers help us all the time." She hesitated. "And we both tend to take that for granted."

Ford looked at his brother and Dipper, Stan with one arm wrapped around the younger man and rubbing his knuckles into his hair as they laughed together with the others. "Yes," agreed Ford. "Yes, we do. I'll talk with our Mabel and Dipper. Try to make them see how amazing they are. Collectively and individually."

"Me too," agreed Wendy. "If we both do it then they'll figure it out even faster. They're smart like that," she added, grinning.

Mabel nodded at them in appreciation, catching her brother's eye. "I think we're both ready now."

Dipper and Mabel walked to the mat they had set up earlier and Dipper pressed a button on the side of one of the rods, a doorway of twisted energy and light appearing on the mat.

"Wait," called Pacifica, stepping forward. "You guys have done so much for us in our world. Is there anything we can do to make things easier for you when you come back?"

The twins smiled at her. "Just be yourselves," advised Dipper. "Stay weird and wonderful like you already are. Don't let me forget to learn from my mistakes, but don't let me worry about them too much either." He laughed. "Trust me, I do enough worrying on my own."

"Don't let me worry too much about boys," said Mabel. "If something happens then something happens, but at the end of the day I have the best guy in the world at my side already." She punched Dipper in the shoulder. "And get Dipper to shower more!" she added, making the others laugh.

"No, she's right," said Dipper seriously. "I stink way too much and you should talk me into washing more." He turned to Ford and Wendy. "I'm more likely to listen if it comes from you two. You're smart, you can figure out something out."

And with their final goodbyes said, they turned to face the doorway that would take them back. "Ready to go home?" asked Dipper, picking up the dog cage that held the unconscious werearmadillo.

Mabel glanced back and met Stanley's eye. "Yep," she said. "Let's do it."

And together they stepped through, the poles collapsing inwardly and falling into the portal behind them as the mat was sucked through the gateway, all traces of the pair disappearing as suddenly as they had arrived.

Stan looked down, this goodbye feeling different than the last, but still a loss. And again, that loss was lessened as a six fingered hand rested on his shoulder and its owner smiled at him and reminded him that the family he had done so much for was still here.

"Man!" laughed Soos loudly, ending the reflective silence and nudging Melody. "Woo! Was it hot out here or was that just Dipper?"

"Oh, thank God!" said Wendy turning her eyes up to the sky and breathing a sigh of relief as Pacifica nodded vigorously. "I thought it was just me! I was getting worried there for a sec."

"It does look like he'll grew into a fine young man," agreed Melody as Pacifica barked out a "Yes!" and then, realising what she said, slapped a hand over her mouth.

Stan and Ford laughed. "Come on, Stanley," said Ford, nudging his brother. "Let's go home."

* * *

And in another universe, different but so very similar, with a timeline diagonal to the other, another pair of twins made their way home. The brother gathered his own twins in his arms and held them tightly, his wife sensing that something had happened and understood that at that moment he just needed to be near his family.

And in another house, the sister spoke to her husband and he held her for a while as even more tears came, but this time they came with a hint of relief and resolution. They were interrupted when the cries of their child swept through the house. Her husband offered to deal with it, but she told him that it was fine and he knew that this was what she needed. And when she had finally sung her boy to sleep, she settled him back into his crib.

"Sweet dreams, Stanley," she whispered, kissing her son goodnight.

THE END

* * *

 _Author's Note: Yay! My first fanfiction. Bit of a tearjerker at the end but I always wanted to leave this story on a happy note. So, confession time: I am in fact (DUN DUN DUUN!) a Brit! And like all British people I am secretly evil (hence why we make the best villains) but this should also explain any dialect issues that might happen in the future stories I plan to write. I will try to use the American terminology as much as I can but if you see me refer to pants as trousers or cell phones as mobiles then that's why. Apparently, there are also some grammatical and sentence structure differences between British and American English so if you think my grammar is a bit odd at times that's likely why. That and mines grammar ain't bestest anyways - but I'm trying to fix that. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have enjoyed reading the stories that made me want to start my own Gravity Falls AU in the first place, so keep writing, reading and letting others know what you think._


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